After another transfer-filled offseason for the Buckeyes, the quarterback depth was thought to be in danger, but Ryan Day and his staff managed to restock the shelves by looking into the transfer portal for reinforcements.
The transfer portal is brand-new and is a way for recruits to put their name out there to find a better situation or opportunity and it has singlehandedly brought pain for the Buckeyes in 2019. A season prior, they also lost Joe Burrow as a grad transfer, who left for a starting job at LSU after being outdueled by Dwayne Haskins after the annual spring game.
Since then, Haskins left for the NFL, leaving Tate Martell and Matthew Baldwin as the heirs for the vacant starting gig, but enter Justin Fields and now all of a sudden Martell transfers to Miami and Baldwin becomes homesick and leaves for TCU. Both left for better situations for them, and I do not blame them one bit. Walk-on Kory Curtis also left for Bryant University, leaving three signal-callers left on a thin positional group. Justin Fields who is and was the projected starter, Chris Chugunov, a former West Virginia transfer, and 2018 walk-on Danny Vanatsky.
Coach Day realized the lack of depth and experience at a key position and he began to sift through the transfer portal and he restocked the once bare shelves and he is now ready to move forward with his group and towards the 2019 season. In a matter of weeks, he and his staff have added two former SEC scholarship quarterbacks in Gunnar Hoak (Kentucky) and Jagger LaRoe (Texas A&M). They also added preferred walk-on JP Andrade (Florida), who will play in the same role for the Buckeyes this season.
This years quarterback room is filled with inexperience and the majority of the room has little to no starting experience, which is the major worry among the Buckeye faithful. Fields also struggled during the spring game and while it is well warranted, the Buckeyes still have time on their side to improve and sharpen Fields’ skills before the season opener.
The room is going to be competitive with the clear starter in Fields. The rest of the roster will occupy their roles and in the worst-case scenario where a major injury occurs to Fields, the rest will be ready and they will be more than capable of picking up the slack in his absence.
It is early, but I feel like this will be the set-up for the 2019 season. I also included the future QB section even though recruiting can be unpredictable before the pen goes to paper, but I feel that both Miller and McCord are solid commits that will eventually don the Scarlet and Gray.
Projected 2019 Depth Chart:
QB 1:Â Â Justin Fields
QB 2:Â Â Gunnar Hoak/Chris Chugunov
QB 3:Â Â Jagger LaRoe/JP Andrade/Danny Vanatsky
Future QB’s:Â Â Jack Miller (2020) and Kyle McCord (2021)
